If Andre Ward’s trainer Virgil Hunter gets his way, Ward will be fighting for a heavyweight world title in his next fight against IBF/WBA champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs). Hunter says he sees it as a waste of time for Ward to move up to the cruiserweight division.
He thinks it’s a better idea if the 33-year-old Ward moves up 2 divisions to fight Joshua at heavyweight. Indeed, moving up one division to cruiserweight could spoil it for Ward if he’s looking to get a big payday fight against the unbeaten Anthony Joshua. Ward would have his hands full at cruiserweight against the top echelon fighters Mairis Briedis, Murat Gassiev, Denis Lebedev and Oleksandr Usyk.
Hunter isn’t saying what it would be a waste of time for Ward to move to the cruiserweight but it would seem fairly obvious that the money wouldn’t be that good for Ward, because there are no stars in the cruiserweight division. For all intents purposes, Ward would be stuck fighting guys that be the equiuvalent of a new and improved version of Kovalev. Ward had his hands full with Kovalev in his two fights. Just imagine how many problems Ward would have against dangerous fighters like Usyk, Gassiev, Lebedev and Briedis.
Ward (32-0, 16 KOs) revealed that he wants to move up to either cruiserweight or heavyweight following his 8th round technical knockout win over former 175 lb. champion Sergey Kovalev (30-2-1, 26 KOs) last Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ward says it’s not just a dream for him to move up to cruiserweight or heavyweight for his next contest. He’s serious about wanting to make that move. He says it would have to be against the right guy.
Ward’s trainer Hunter believes that he out-box the 6’6”, 250 pound Joshua. That might be hard for the 6-foot Ward to do, because he would be giving up 6 inches in height and at least 50 lbs. in weight. Ward seemed small compared to the 6’0” Kovalev last Saturday night. Kovalev was the rangier of the two due to his longer reach. Ward’s face was puffed up by the jabs that Kovalev kept hitting him with.
Joshua is enormous compared to Kovalev and Ward. You throw Ward in with Joshua, and it could be bad news for “SOG” and his unbeaten record. But if Ward is going to lose to anyone, Joshua would be the guy. It is an ideal cash out fight for Ward. If they can fill the 90,000 seat Wembley Stadium like the Joshua vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight did, Ward would make a fortune from the ticket and PPV sales in the UK, as well as the PPV money on HBO. It’s not just a good deal for Ward. It’s also a good deal for his trainer Hunter. He’d be riding the gravy train, and he’ be able to share in some of the loot that Ward gets being his trainer. The green stuff that Ward gets for a fight against Joshua would be extensive. It would be trickle down green stuff that would find it’s way into Hunter’s hands as well.